Fasting effective for weight loss?

Diet Myth or Truth: Fasting Is Effective for Weight Loss

 Sample Image Fasting is an age-old practice, often done for religious reasons, but fasting for weight loss is still capturing the public imagination. You can find dozens of do-it-yourself plans touting the unproven benefits of fasting, ranging from flushing "poisons" from the body to purging 30 pounds of fat in 30 days.
 

It's true that fasting -- that is, eating little to no food -- will result in weight loss, at least in the short term. But the risks far outweigh any benefits, and ultimately, fasting can cause more harm than good.

Typical Fasting Weight Loss Plans

Fasting regimens vary, but the basic premise usually starts with a strict regimen allowing only water, juice and/or some kind of laxative concoction.  Some plans allow a few solid foods, but are still called fasts because they provide so few calories.

Not all fasts are created equal. Some can be perfectly safe, such as medical fasts supervised by a physician. Religious and cultural fasts are typically undertaken as an act of devotion, last from 24-48 hours, and are not intended to promote weight loss.

Fasts lasting a day or two are unlikely to be dangerous for most healthy adults. But high-risk people, the elderly, anyone with a chronic disease, pregnant women, and children are advised against any type of fasting.

The real danger lies in staying on the fast for prolonged periods, anywhere from three days to a month.

Dangers of Fasting for Weight Loss

When you dramatically reduce your calorie intake, you will lose weight. But it can also cause all kinds of health problems, including muscle loss. Further, when you start fasting, your body goes into conservation mode, burning calories more slowly. 

Keep in mind that the initial weight lost on a fast is primarily fluid or "water weight," not fat. And when you go back to eating, any lost weight usually gets a return ticket back. Not only do most people regain weight lost on a fast, they tend to add a few extra pounds because a slower metabolism makes it easier to gain weight. Worse, the weight that is regained is likely to be all fat -- lost muscle has to be added back at the gym.

Side effects of fasting include dizziness, headaches, low blood sugar, muscle aches, weakness, and fatigue.  Prolonged fasting can lead to anemia, a weakened immune system, liver and kidney problems, and irregular heartbeat. Fasting can also result in vitamin and mineral deficiencies, muscle breakdown, and diarrhea. When you drink laxative concoctions during a fast, there is an increased risk of fluid imbalance and dehydration.

The risks get more complicated and severe the longer you stay on a fast, or if you repeatedly go on fasts.

Why You Don't Need a Detox Diet

It sounds logical that fasting could cleanse your body of harmful substances that could cause a host of ailments like obesity, fatigue, and headaches. But there is no scientific evidence that you need to fast to "cleanse" your body or remove toxins.

Your body - specifically, the kidneys, liver, lungs, colon, and skin -- is perfectly capable of removing toxins itself.

The bottom line: Nutrition experts agree that fasting is a potentially dangerous, and not particularly effective, way to lose weight. 

Instead of a fast, opt for a healthy eating plan that you can stick with long-term  Healthy diets provide a minimum of 1,200 calories and include a variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy, lean protein, and healthy fats, along with regular physical activity

If you are not convinced and want to go on a fast, be sure to consult your physician first.

By Kathleen M. Zelman, MPH, RD, LD
WebMD

Vinegar may aid fat loss

Study Shows Ancient Medical Remedy May Help Modern Struggle Against Obesity
Sample Image  The latest weapon in the battle of the bulge may be as close as your kitchen pantry. Ordinary household vinegar -- used to make oil-and-vinegar salad dressings or pickles -- appears to turn on genes that help fight fat, researchers in Japan report.  

Vinegar has long been touted as a cure-all for many ills. The substance has been used a folk medicine remedy since ancient times. Modern medical evidence is slowly adding credence to some of the claims. In recent years, research has suggested that the main chemical in vinegar, called acetic acid, can help control blood pressure and blood sugar.
 
The current findings suggest that vinegar might help a person lose weight or fight obesity. Tomoo Kondo and colleagues gave acetic acid or water to mice via a stomach tube. All were provided a high-fat diet to eat normally.

Read more...

Intervals for fat loss

Sample Image Want to upgrade your body's ability to burn fuel more efficiently? Then mix some sprints into your regular workout routine. Scottish researchers found that two weeks of daily high-intensity intervals -- six 30-second bursts -- is all it takes to get results.
The study had 16 young male subjects cycle fast and furiously for brief periods, measuring metabolic impact by how much insulin was needed to break down blood sugar. When subjects were given a sugar pill after the biking sprints, they needed 40% less insulin and had 12% less sugar remaining in the bloodstream (compared to how the body processed the same pill before the high-intensity training).

You can enjoy similar benefits from almost any form of exercise -- swimming, running, weight-lifting, etc. -- by briefly ramping up to peak effort. Other research found that such 30-second "sprints" can elevate human growth hormone levels by 450%. That may help explain why the harder you work out, the longer you'll live: Women with a lower exercise capacity were twice as likely to die during an eight-year study 

A little chocolate is ok!

  PARIS (AFP) - Heart attack survivors who eat chocolate two or more times per week cut their risk of dying from heart disease about threefold compared to those who never touch the stuff, scientists have reported.

Smaller quantities confer less protection, but are still better than none, according to the study, which appears in the September issue of the Journal of Internal Medicine.

Earlier research had established a strong link between cocoa-based confections and lowered blood pressure or improvement in blood flow. 

   
It had also shown that chocolate cuts the rate of heart-related mortality in healthy older men, along with post-menopausal women.

But the new study, led by Imre Janszky of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, is the first to demonstrate that consuming chocolate can help ward off the grim reaper if one has suffered acute myocardial infarction -- otherwise known as a heart attack.

"It was specific to chocolate -- we found no benefit to sweets in general," said Kenneth Mukamal, a researcher at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and a co-author of the study.

"It seems that antioxidants in cocoa are a likely candidate" for explaining the live-saving properties, he told AFP in an exchange of e-mails.

Antioxidants are compounds that protect against so-called free radicals, molecules which accumulate in the body over time that can damage cells and are thought to play a role in heart disease, cancer and the aging process.

In the study, Janszky and colleagues tracked 1,169 non-diabetic men and women, 45-to-70 years old, in Stockholm County during the early 1990s from the time they were hospitalised with their first-ever heart attack.

The participants were queried before leaving hospital on their food consumption habits over the previous year, including how much chocolate they ate on a regular basis.

They underwent a health examination three months after discharge, and were monitored for eight years after that. The incidence of fatal heart attacks correlated inversely with the amount of chocolate consumed.

"Our findings support increasing evidence that chocolate is a rich source of beneficial bioactive compounds," the researchers concluded.

The results held true for men and women, and across all the age groups included in the study.

Other factors that might have affected the outcome -- alcohol consumption, obesity, smoking -- were also taken into account.

So should we all be loading up on cocoa-rich sweets?

"To be frank, I'm pretty cautious about chocolate because we're working on weight problems with so many individuals," said Mukamal, who is also a practising physician.

"However, I do encourage those who are looking for healthier desserts to consider chocolate in small quantities," he said.

"For individuals with no weight issues who have been able to eat chocolate in moderation and remain slim, I do not limit it," he added.

The researchers caution that clinical trials are needed to back up the findings of their study.

In the meantime, however, a bit of chocolate may not be amiss, they suggest.

More Articles...

Go on facebook!

Follow us on facebook
and keep up to date
with latest news
and activities

You are now being logged in using your Facebook credentials